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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

TRUST II

MARY AT HER DISTAFF WATCHED OVER BY TWO ANGELSfrom Milton's Paradise RegainedWhat may one trust (see post TRUST):In contrast to things which Blake thought that we could not trust, there were things in which he placed implicit trust. These were the manifestations of the Spirit which increased in his consciousness as he traveled his journey. _________________________________________________The Eternal Realities

Jerusalem, Plate 34 [38], (E 180)"We live as One Man; for contracting our infinite sensesWe behold multitude; or expanding: we behold as one,As One Man all the Universal Family; and that One ManWe call Jesus the Christ: and he in us, and we in him, Live in perfect harmony in Eden the land of life,"

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 225)"For all are Men in Eternity. Rivers Mountains Cities Villages,All are Human & when you enter into their Bosoms you walkIn Heavens & Earths; as in your own Bosom you bear your HeavenAnd Earth, & all you behold, tho it appears Without it is WithinIn your Imagination of which this World of Mortality is but aShadow."___________________________________________The ImaginationMilton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)"Judge then of thy Own Self: thy Eternal Lineaments exploreWhat is Eternal & what Changeable? & what Annihilable!The Imagination is not a State: it is the Human Existence itselfAffection or Love becomes a State, when divided from ImaginationThe Memory is a State always, & the Reason is a StateCreated to be Annihilated & a new Ratio Created " Jerusalem, Plate 77, (E 231)"I know of no otherChristianity and of no other Gospel than the liberty both of body& mind to exercise the Divine Arts of Imagination.Imagination the real & eternal World of which this VegetableUniverse is but a faint shadow & in which we shall live in ourEternal or Imaginative Bodies, when these Vegetable Mortal Bodiesare no more."_________________________________________________The Identity in oneself and in othersVision of the Last Judgment, Page 80, (E 556) "These States Exist now Man Passes on but States remain for Ever he passes thro them like a traveller who may as well suppose that the places he has passed thro exist no more as a Man may suppose that the States he has passd thro exist no more Every Thing is Eternal In Eternity one Thing never Changes into another Thing Each Identity is Eternal" Jerusalem, Plate 38 [43], (E 185)"Swelld & bloated General Forms, repugnant to the Divine-Humanity, who is the Only General and Universal FormTo which all Lineaments tend & seek with love & sympathyAll broad & general principles belong to benevolenceWho protects minute particulars, every one in their own identity."Jerusalem, Plate 55, (E 205)"The Infinite alone resides in Definite & Determinate IdentityEstablishment of Truth depends on destruction of Falshoodcontinually"________________________________________________Our own ability to discern God's presence within Humanity Milton, Plate 30 [33], (E 129) "Lo the Eternal Great Humanity To whom be Glory & Dominion Evermore AmenWalks among all his awful Family seen in every faceAs the breath of the Almighty. such are the words of man to manIn the great Wars of Eternity, in fury of Poetic Inspiration,To build the Universe stupendous: Mental forms Creating "Milton, Plate 20 [22], (E 114)"It has a heart like thee; a brain open to heaven & hell,Wthinside wondrous & expansive; its gates are not clos'd,I hope thine are not: hence it clothes itself in rich array;Hence thou art cloth'd with human beauty O thou mortal man.Seek not thy heavenly father then beyond the skies:"If we reject or destroy the verities on which we have relied without a means of replacing them, we are left with a void to fill. If we do not have Truth to fill the emptiness, fear and falsehood will invade the empty space. Blake offered alternatives to those who came to reject their reliance on sense data, rationalization, following authority and accepting systems of deception.

Reliance on sense data is to be replaced with awareness of the Eternal Realities. Reliance on the reasoning mind is to be replaced by the ability to use the Imagination.Reliance on established authority is to be replaced by the ability to discern God's presence in humanityThe reliance on systems created by others is to be replaced by the ability to recognize the Identity in oneself and others.

In vision Blake was able to see the new world which could replace this fallen existence:

Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 555)"There Exist in that EternalWorld the Permanent Realities of Every Thing which wesee are reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature AllThings are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in theDivine body of the Saviour the True Vine of EternityThe Human Imagination who appeard to Me as Coming toJudgment. among his Saints & throwing off the Temporalthat the Eternal might be Establishd."